


Gently in my Heart

by HexdHeda



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/F, Fluff, We were robbed of them so here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-11-28 19:10:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20971607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HexdHeda/pseuds/HexdHeda
Summary: “Black, that’s impressive. No one ever drinks our black coffee here. I’m thinking it might be shit, to be honest.”Or, the coffee shop AU where person A keeps ordering black coffee to impress person B even though they can’t stand it.





	Gently in my Heart

**Author's Note:**

> I miss them so I’m self-medicating with AU’s.

The shop became rapidly busier in the past hour, and Tara hardly has time to pause between the steady flow of customers and the background chatter of her coworker and confidant, Glenn. She doesn’t mind; the days are typically slow moving and the extra tips don’t hurt them any.

The chime from the door being opened does nothing to catch her attention. What catches her attention, once the newcomer reaches the front of the line, was the lack of a familiar face. They hardly receive any new customers, mostly seeing regulars on their way to work and sleep-deprived college students.

The woman waits expectantly. Feeling flustered, Tara gives the usual greeting.

“What can I get for you this morning?”

Tara can’t help but appreciate the striking features of the woman in front of her, so much so she misses her response. She cringes to herself, “I’m so sorry, do you mind repeating that?” She is sure she is blushing, but is determined to hold her ground.

“I’ll take one black, please.” the woman repeats softly. There is a twinkle in her eye, but she says nothing else. She fishes her credit card out of her wallet and slides it across the counter.

“Black, that’s impressive. No one ever drinks our black coffee here. I’m thinking it might be shit, to be honest.” Tara stops and gives an awkward half smile. “Not to judge, or anything.” she tries to amend herself.

The woman laughs, shrugging one shoulder. “I guess I’ll find out then.”

“I guess you will,” Tara replies, ducking her head down to punch in the order. “Anything else?” Tara waves at Glenn to get his attention and turns her eyes back to the customer, who was tucking her hair behind her ear.

“No, that’s it, thank you.”

Tara rings up her order and hands her back her card. “All right, your drink will be ready in a few minutes, right over there.”

The woman smiles at her and nods in thanks, heading over to where Tara had gestured. Tara turns to check on the drink and catches Glenn’s eye. He quirks his eyebrow at her and she feels hot, facing the next customer, who was tapping her fingers impatiently against the countertop. Fighting the compulsion to glance over at the brunette, she busies herself with helping the patrons who are still in line.

When the shop becomes quiet again, she leans against the counter and watches Glenn finish up his last drink. Upon finishing, Glenn stops to lean against the counter opposite of her.

“She’s cute,” he suggests lightly.

Taking a quick peek over her shoulder to where the woman is sitting, illuminated by the bright light from the morning sun shining through the window, Tara sighs.

“I suppose, she isn’t a regular.”

“She isn’t, did you get her name?”

“No, didn’t feel like there was a right time to ask.”

“You’re a barista, I doubt she’d have found it odd.” Glenn chuckles, watching her over Tara’s shoulder.

“We don’t do that here.”

“Yeah, but _she_ doesn’t know that.”

The next time she comes in, Tara is ready. “And what name will I be getting for this order?”

The woman raises an eyebrow. “You didn’t ask for one last time.”

“I forgot,” Tara points at her name tag. “I’m Tara.”

“Rosita.”

“Thanks, your order will be right up.” Tara backs away and fixes the drink herself, while Glenn was on his break. She doesn’t have a sharpie or any marker, so the thin lines from the pen make up a barely legible R-o-s-i-t-a. She caps the drink. Clearing her throat awkwardly, she moves the cup to the countertop and finally makes eye contact with Rosita again.

There’s a pause and Rosita doesn’t make a move towards the drink.

“Aren’t you supposed to call the name out?”

There’s a playful lilt to her words, and Tara feels both flustered and thrilled.

“Black coffee for Rosita” She says deliberately, in the same tone.

She gets a quick smile in response, and Tara wishes the sight didn’t make her stomach flutter. Rosita finally reaches for the cup, barely sparing it a second glance.

“Thanks, Tara.”

“Anytime.” Tara replies, bashful if anything. Right then, the back door swings open and Tara looks back in time to see Glenn enter, tying his apron.

“I’ve got you covered, did I miss anything good?” He calls.

“Nah, same old.” She turned back and her eyes meet Rosita’s again, who is already sitting down by the windows. Tara smooths down her apron and gives a little half-wave, before heading into the back room herself.

“You have to stop staring.”

Tara pulls the shot of espresso with practiced ease, her hands going through the motion without conscious thought.

“I’m not staring.” Her face feels warm regardless, and she can almost picture her red cheeks.

“You’re totally staring.”

Tara doesn’t reply and tries to steer her gaze away from the brunette woman. Rosita sits peacefully, with her coffee on the table, bent over a paperback book. It wasn’t as though she was doing anything particularly interesting at the moment. In fact, she was doing the same thing as she had been a few hours ago, and a few days ago, and a few days before that.

She need not look at Glenn to know he’s smirking. Tara turns her attention back to the drink in front of her. She hands it off to the waiting customer who grabs it with thanks. Taking a moment to look around the store, she checks to see if there’s anything to be done. She specifically avoids looking towards the window.

Now when Rosita comes in, Tara prepares her drink right away. Her order never changes. She just gets her black coffee, they exchange a few words, and Rosita reads her book. Same old. Sometimes Tara feels bold and throws in a “Hey gorgeous,” but most of the time she’s too flustered to do so. And so, things continued on as normal. Until Glenn makes an observation.

“Hey, you know she doesn’t even drink her coffee.”

Tara almost laughs. “No way,” she rolls her eyes, “of course she does! She orders the same thing every time.”

“No, I’m serious. Watch her when she’s here. She just sits and reads, and then throws the whole thing out.” He shakes his head. “I knew our black coffee sucked.”

Despite her, if we’re being honest, rather mediocre efforts, Tara can’t help but see if Glenn was right. And to her shock and curiosity, he was. _Ok_, she resolves that she’ll ask her about it next time.  
She doesn’t ask her next time, or even the time after. Tara doesn’t want to break the spell by appearing creepy or brash. Like, how does that even sound? _Hey, I’ve noticed that you keep buying our coffee but you never drink it. Not that I’m watching you or anything_. She can’t hold it off forever though, and it nags at the back of her mind every time Rosita smiles at her from across the room.

_Here we g_o.

The next time Rosita comes in for a coffee, Tara waits for her to reach the counter before setting up to make her drink. “Hey, Tara.” Rosita greets, her eyes soft and her hands tucked into her pockets.

“Rosita, hey!” Tara returns, kicking her foot lightly against the counter. “I’ve been meaning to ask — nothing’s wrong, don’t worry — Glenn just noticed this, why don’t you drink our coffee?”

Rosita looks surprised, and Tara instantly regrets it, her face flaming up. “Sorry! That came off rather rude. I mean, we just saw that you don’t seem to drink any of it, and I was hoping everything was ok?”

Rosita looks conflicted, perhaps momentarily stunned, and a wave of embarrassment rolls across her face. “Oh, I’m so sorry, your coffee is fine! Really, it is!” She offers quickly.

This doesn’t solve Tara’s confusion. “But you don’t drink it?”

Rosita blushes. “I had other reasons, I suppose, for ordering it.”

“Like wasting your money?”

She laughs good-naturedly. “Something like that. Now how about that coffee?”

“I’m not giving you coffee you don’t like.”

“Maybe it is time to change things up. You know, keep things interesting.”

“Uh huh.” Tara was not convinced.

“I’ll have a skim latte, thanks.”

With narrowed eyes still dancing with confusion, Tara rings up the different order. Rosita gives her a funny smile again and sits down where she always does.

Glenn stops by Tara’s shoulder. “Oh, she’s so into you.”

Spinning around, Tara smacks him on the shoulder. “Glenn! She is right there!” She registers what he said and turns red. “You totally did not just get that from that interaction.”

“No, but that confirmed it for me.”  
“What confirmed it for you?”

“She’s been coming here for weeks, ordering coffee she doesn’t like. She is always here when you’re on shift, and she only ever talks to you.” He lets it sink it. “She’s here for you.”

_Huh_.

Later, after much prompting from Glenn, Tara takes her chance.

“Mind if I sit here?” She points at the empty chair across the table from where Rosita is sitting. Rosita quirks her lips up into a smile and waves her down. “So,” Tara leans forward onto her elbows. “I really have to ask. Why keep ordering our crappy black coffee?”

Rosita laughs again, clear and sparkling. “I remember an old roommate of mine, really cool person. She drank black coffee. I always thought, Wow, she’s one tough chick. I want to be like her.” Rosita shakes her head in amusement. “I guess I thought by doing the same, I could give off the same impression.”

“That sounds irrational of you.”

“How about this, I’ll start getting coffee I’ll actually drink--”

“Deal.”

“—On one condition.”

“All right, shoot.”

“Can I buy you a cup of coffee?”

**Author's Note:**

> <3


End file.
